


Drop

by PoisonJack



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha Kylo Ren, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst with a Happy Ending, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Feelings, General au, Jealousy, Kylo Ren is an idiot, M/M, Mutual Pining, Omega Armitage Hux, Omega Verse, Omegaverse, Paranoia, Possessive Behavior, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, Unhealthy Relationships, but he makes up for it!, omega drop, pre-TROS if that matters to some people rn lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:56:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21996382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonJack/pseuds/PoisonJack
Summary: Paranoia causes Kylo to push Hux away, denying his own urge to cuddle and keep the omega general after sex, jealous of his own imagined slights. The detrimental side-effects of doing so cause Hux to experience omega-drop, and seek-out comfort from Ren's knights instead. It doesn't go well when Kylo finds them in bed together.Just an excuse for some tropey, indulgent fun with omega drop :) You know what to expect haha
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren, Kylux
Comments: 20
Kudos: 465





	Drop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheSpaceCoyote](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceCoyote/gifts).



> Back on my bullshit and it feels so good! I don't know too much about the knights, but from a thing I read in japanese, we've got some names and at least some minor personality points? Ap'lek Ren apparently prefers to use his wiles to sow dissent instead of outright violence, and Vicrul Ren prefers hand to hand combat (according to the personality traits in the japanese layout i read haha haven't seen the last film yet). 
> 
> Anyways, I like the idea of Hux being in bed between the knight who prefers using his silver tongue, and the one who likes things up close and personal ;) Fun implications anyways haha!

There was something going on with Hux and his knights, he was sure of it.

He didn’t have any proof yet aside from a feeling, and while Ren could easily distill the truth of months of slight suspicion by force, the fall out _if he was wrong_ would absolutely _not_ be worth it. Things were tenuous enough with his rule, and it wouldn’t help to have his closest confidants think he didn’t trust them. He couldn’t probe the minds of his knights without them knowing, and such an intrusion without consent-- even by their master- would be taken as a serious breach of trust. 

Not that he should have _any_ problems violating that trust if he thought something was _seriously_ happening with his omega and his knights (and paranoia was a potent-thing, but he wouldn’t allow it to rule him). 

Infidelity would be one thing if he and Hux were bonded (which they _weren’t_ ), and the betrayal another if Hux had lied to him (which he _hadn’t_ , as Kylo hadn’t accused him of anything just _yet_ ). But it was a gut-feeling. Something his instincts were telling him, aside from what his _nose_ was telling him.

Smelling his knights on Hux was normal; they were his personal guard on the ship after Ren had seized power by murdering Snoke. His reign as Supreme Leader hadn’t been very long at all, and there were plenty in High Command that cared as much for _him_ as they did for an _omega_ commanding in a position like Hux. The presence of his knights around the general was entirely warranted, and the scent entirely explained.

But something unseen was happening with them, he was sure of it. What exactly that was, he still didn’t know, and meditation hadn’t revealed anything to him when the paranoia got bad enough for him to reach out to the wisdom of the force. Whatever it was, it was certainly below the force’s notice. 

Or at least in comparison to larger problems.

There had been a few spoiled coups and assassination attempts already, but they’d waned in recent months. Partly because of a strategy Hux had developed, wherein his knights were rotated about the ships in the fleet to not let their commanders forget _just what kind_ of a hands-on alpha they had for a leader. Mind-readers, force-users, all skilled in deadly combat. It helped to secure his rule, but just because things felt safer didn’t mean he’d stop having Hux personally guarded, despite the general’s roll of the eyes and insistence that he could take care of himself.

It was a sore point for many of their arguments; arguments which usually stemmed from Kylo’s overprotectiveness. 

Hux hated it. Kylo was Supreme Leader now. Hux should be his proper second-in-command, able to independently run things about the ship with the confidence of their ruler behind his actions. But the constant hovering shortly after Kylo had seized power, or the changing of an order Hux just gave-- _undermining his own authority on the bridge_ \- was deeply insulting; like he was untrusted in ability or skill. 

They’d had quite a few delicious, angry fucks resulting from that argument, but just as many fights in private. Hux wanted autonomy, but Ren didn’t trust the alphas on the ship. Things had indeed changed-- they were fucking now, for one, and Ren was Supreme Leader- and yet things had stayed exactly the same. Their arguments always came down to the same thing: Ren not giving him his space, and Hux not understanding the _need_ of an alpha guard. 

Hux belonged to _him_. To Kylo. He might not have bonded Hux yet (he hadn’t worked up the proper courage to _ask_ , and Hux would never forgive him if he took him by force), but Hux was still _his_. Amidst the power-struggles and regime-change, his presence-- or that of his knights- served as a reminder that Hux was not to be touched. He was his to protect, his to command, _his_ to touch and fuck and kiss and make cry with pleasure. 

And if Ren couldn’t be there, then one of his knights was assigned to the general to enforce his will. Smelling them on Hux wasn’t odd, but the frequency of the _strength_ of the scent-- coupled with Ren’s own absences on the ship- made him paranoid with alpha territorialism. Hux was his, and the only scent he wanted covering the omega was his _own_. That he couldn’t prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the scent on Hux was _innocent_ in nature-- part of his will being carried out- was the real problem. 

The idea of Hux in another alpha’s arms made him want to spurn the man as much as to wrap him tightly in his arms and never leave his bed. Hux was _his._ The idea that Hux might not want him back in the same way left Kylo conflicted, suspicious, and hating the man as much as he might sometimes love him. 

Hux was reclined on his chest now, the both of them cooled down from a nice hard fuck. Kylo’s knot was already down and out of the other man, his release lovingly cleaned from the omega while Hux had lazed there with a relaxed smirk and casual touches to his person. There was something calm in these moments, the urge to simply _be_ together driving out any and all paranoid, jealous thoughts as Hux practically purred in his arms.

Kylo was nosing about in Hux’s fluffy post-sex-hair, drawing in pulls of the omega’s satisfied scent through his nostrils. It made something possessive inside him want to hold tightly to the other man; to bite down on that pale neck and assert his claim. To let _everyone_ know he belonged to Kylo (and Kylo, him).

He was enjoying the feel of Hux in his arms; the closeness, the warmth, his scent. He wanted to stay wrapped around the other man for hours yet, but the time for the shift change was nearly there.

Time Hux would spend shadowed by one of his knights while Kylo was busy elsewhere.

“Haven’t you got to be on the bridge?” Kylo asked, the jealousy creeping back in despite the lazy satisfaction that had still been thrumming through his veins minutes before. 

Hux smirked indulgently as he rubbed at the alpha’s broad chest. His thumb playfully brushed over the alpha’s nipple. “I think I can spare a _few_ moments to lay with you a bit longer.” 

The way Hux purred the words-- a soft, satisfied smile on his face as he lightly stroked the alpha’s chest- made something hateful born from jealousy rise up in Kylo. Like Hux was making _fun_ of him, here in bed with him somehow. Making a show of shirking his duty for the alpha-- a pretty large concession from Hux- when the man was fucking one-- _more than one?_ All _?_ \- of his knights behind his very back. 

The accusation simmered low inside him, not yet ready to come out, but he was already feeling the burn in its wake. He wanted to drive the other man from his bed; to tell him to ‘go back to your substitutes like I know you wish to’. If Hux had others to fuck, then Ren wouldn’t waste his time lingering in his bed.

Unfounded accusations born of suspicion-by-scent and Hux’s own sometime-abrasiveness, but strong enough to cast his doubts in deep shadow.

Hux was with him right now, _enjoying_ him right now, but Kylo had no doubt the general would go on to smell like his knights again far sooner than he wanted to entertain.

As much as everything in him wanted to continue to hold the omega, Ren chose to give in to the doubt, sitting up and dragging his hand down Hux’s side to give his bare ass a soft smack. “Didn’t you say that was unprofessional before? I won’t have you accusing _me_ of making you late for your shift.”

His words got a sharp frown and what almost looked like hurt crossed Hux’s face, but the general dutifully rolled over and began to gather his clothes from Kylo’s floor. 

“You’re right, of course, Supreme Leader. It’s important I don’t slip in my duties lest anyone think you’re giving me _preferential_ treatment.”

Kylo turned to watch him pull on his jodhpurs, a frown at the implication there, and for the formality of his title being used. “You’re my omega,” he said matter-of-factly, tone possessive. As if being _the Supreme Leader’s omega_ was itself a license for preferential treatment; one Hux _should_ indulge in.

Hux gave him a sharp look at that, pulling on his undershirt and only turning away to do up his jacket. He refused to look at the other man again. “I’m your second-in-command, and the highest-ranking officer in this fleet. I got there by my own merits and dedication, and I’ll continue to lead by example.”

Kylo didn’t have anything to add to that, the spiteful thing in him simmering away and enjoying that Hux was clearly hurt by his insistence to his duty, even as he hated that the omega didn’t fight him on staying. 

He watched as Hux put on his boots, and almost called him back to bed. He wanted to press the damn man back into the mattress beneath him despite it all, and scent and kiss him for hours until Hux was so boneless from pleasure he _couldn’t_ leave, let alone _want_ to.

But he didn’t. Ren watched as Hux left his quarters with an angry sort of somber look on his face, and laid back moodily in the sheets to wonder what the hell he was doing.

He stuck his face in the pillow only for Hux’s scent to taunt him.

\--

Ren couldn’t be everywhere at once. He was a far busier man than he’d ever expected, what with the resources and the power to carry out multiple missions at once now. His presence could be supplemented by his own knights, at least, and that helped to remind everyone who was pulling the strings in the First Order.

It also meant he spent more time away from Hux than he preferred, but it was necessary in chasing down leads only he could go after. 

It _did_ worry him to leave the omega, though, but not because of the assassination-attempts. 

Hux was well-liked by members of his staff that he’d hand-picked. There were no thoughts of mutiny towards the omega; only loyalty, admiration, and respect. But that wasn’t why he worried about the general when he took his leave. 

More than one officer liked the omega for simple reasons of attraction. Hux was tall, lean, and passionate in pursuit of his duty. He was also un-bonded. Un-mated. Anyone who could have him for their omega stood a _lot_ to gain in both terms of social status as well as pride if they forcibly bonded him (if Hux didn’t gut the first person to attempt it without his consent, anyways). 

His own presence on the ship was a great deterrent for actions against the omega general, but he _wasn’t_ always on the ship, or even with the fleet itself. All it took was someone patient enough to either bite or snap Hux’s neck when he was gone in an attempt to usurp power. It was a risk Kylo found unacceptable.

That was yet _another_ function of Ren’s knights-- when he was off-ship, their presence kept any start-ups from getting ideas about seizing power from his omega while _he_ was gone. There were still plenty of power struggles happening internally amongst the fleet-- enough to worry Ren about another alpha seizing Hux’s un-bonded neck in an attempt to push their own agendas (or murder him and command the First Order in his place while Ren was gone). His knights would see that that didn’t happen (not that Hux wasn’t perfectly capable of defending himself, as he sourly pointed out again and again, but this wasn’t something the alpha would let the omega talk him out of). 

The reunions after he’d been off-ship awhile were the best, and his welcome reception by Hux only fueled more of these off-ship treks for the sole purpose of enjoying the return. It worked to pull back some of the spite he felt for the other man, doubting all previous suspicions and blaming jealous paranoia for doubting Hux’s interest. Hux’s actions towards him spoke of _want,_ and he was nothing if not enthusiastic i seeking out Kylo’s bed. 

But the alpha was smelling his knights on the omega more and more lately, no matter _how_ often they fucked. And while there was no evidence of infidelity-- Hux was always eager to welcome him into his arms and ride him like a man possessed- Ren couldn’t stop the jealous suspicions plaguing his mind.

He’d been back with the fleet for a month now after the last mission, and it had been weeks since he’d set foot in Hux’s personal quarters, preferring his own. His suspicions were driving him to be distant, even when he wanted to fully ignore them in favor of wrapping the omega in his arms and lavishing affection on him. 

Not that they weren’t still fucking. But he preferred to do it in his own bed in his own quarters, where Hux’s scent mingled with his own; where only _his_ scent covered the omega general. Ren could enjoy their mingled scents alone when jealousy got the better of him and he isolated himself. 

The omega’s own quarters were spacious and comfortable, but nothing compared to his own luxurious allotment now. Kylo _liked_ smelling Hux amongst his sheets. It was soothing. It was reassuring. The way their scents blended together into something warm was comforting, even when paranoia got the best of him and he either did or said something to make Hux snarl at him and leave. 

It didn’t occur to him that this whole arrangement could have a serious, detrimental effect on the omega beyond their old rivalry and spats. To make matters worse, he’d been off the Supremacy for some days now, and even the prospect of returning to Hux’s arms in the privacy of his own den-- to potentially smell one of his alphas on the omega _again_ \- made his homecoming one of bittersweet anxiety. 

Paranoia was finally impossible to ignore, strong enough to drive him. And the tipping point was that Hux wasn’t where he was supposed to be, and neither were Ren’s knights.

He was earlier than expected-- his mission cut short a day as he wanted that homecoming feeling too badly to ignore- but his unexpected return wasn’t met with the proper fanfare as it should’ve been.

Hux wasn’t on the bridge even though it was the middle of the rotation, and there were far more eyes on Kylo than when he normally took the bridge himself. Like they all _knew_ something was off-- knew something he _didn’t-_ and he felt heat rise up his neck at the attention, lack of his omega where he should’ve been.

“Where is General Hux?” he asked the lieutenant in charge, the small beta looking up into his face with slightly-widened eyes. 

“Ah, he’s taken ill, Supreme Leader. He’s been resting these past few shifts. I can summon him if--”

Kylo didn’t wait for the man to finish his sentiments or offers, instead choosing to leave and head to Hux’s own quarters. He didn’t need to probe the lieutenant’s mind to know Hux wouldn’t be in medical. The man had a phobia of the entire section of the ship, and would subject himself to nothing more than was required of him in his duty. No, Hux would be in his quarters if he were truly ill enough to take him from the bridge. 

Hux never seemed to need sleep, but the alpha knew just how soundly Hux _did_ sleep all curled up next to him after a particularly-trying shift. He drank far too much caf and got too-little rest more often than not, but even he couldn’t keep that up forever. Hux was just as prone to being ill as anyone else, but for the life of him, Ren couldn’t remember anything aside from a full-blown heat to keep Hux from his duty (and his heat wasn’t due anytime soon to his knowledge).

The alpha’s concern that Hux must be _truly_ sick drove his feet to move faster. 

...Paranoia that something _else_ might be going on fueled his stride. 

The absence on the bridge of any one of the knights he’d left behind hadn’t escaped his notice. He’d commanded them to keep an eye on the general; _his_ omega. To guard Hux in Kylo’s stead. Protect him with their life. His mind wove many scenarios that sparked anger within him, and as he advanced on the door to Hux’s personal quarters, the _lack_ of a knight posted _outside_ the door made him grit his teeth.

Kylo let himself into Hux’s quarters silently, expecting the darkness and silence that greeted him as he entered the space. It _should_ be dark and quiet if Hux was recuperating from something. That made perfect sense. He expected it even as he could feel Hux’s presence in the man’s own quarters.

What Ren did _not_ expect was the pervading scent of familiar alpha-- no, _alphas_ \- mingled with Hux’s scent in a way that betrayed occupancy of _many_ days together. 

Hux’s scent was thick even in the recycled air, but the welcoming addition of Kylo’s own musk was completely absent. The implication made his heart beat faster, fingers twitching. This was a space that, instinctively, should smell like him. It was wrong not to smell his own scent in the general’s own quarters, and worse as he detected the slight tinge to the omega’s scent; despair tanging the air with something else.

He could feel familiar signatures in the force at the same time he picked out individual scent, and the concern for Hux’s health gave way to the gaping maw of jealous, possessive anger. He didn’t _need_ to see to know that Vicrul Ren and Ap’lek Ren were in bed with his omega, but as his hand blindly found the manual control for the lights, he still wasn’t ready to see the truth of matters with his own eyes.

Hux was curled into Vicrul Ren’s chest, one of his delicate, bare hands resting about the top of the alpha’s training shirt in sleep. Ap’lek Ren spooned the omega, an arm thrown over Hux’s waist in a way that made a surge of something possessive and wild break free in Kylo. 

Both his knights were dressed down from their armor, masks off and faces far too close to Hux’s own for comfort. It didn’t escape him that all three men were still dressed-- Hux’s own black sleep-pants and shirt covering skin only Kylo should see- but that did little to quell the feelings rising up in him. The three were blissfully asleep, faces unguarded to the wrath quickly building on Kylo’s face.

He hated that he was _right_ to have suspected something, and seeing his omega and two of his knights in this obvious display of casual intimacy filled Kylo with such a grief-filled rage that the very echoes of it in the force woke Vicrul Ren from his slumber. 

The knight didn’t even look at him before he was launching Ap’lek Ren’s ax in the direction of Kylo, and it was only as Kylo froze it mid-throw that the other alpha seemed to realize _who_ he was, and what _he’d_ done. The look on Kylo’s face drove every last scrap of sleepy-incoherency from the other alpha as he became alert to the imminent danger of his master and Kylo’s own rage filling the room. 

Vicrul Ren rolled to a knee on the floor of Hux’s quarters as the omega and the other knight stirred from the jostling. His head was bowed in immediate supplication, and Ap’lek Ren, too, saw his own weapon frozen in midair, and rolled to the cold floor to instinctively take a knee upon seeing his master. Kylo’s overwhelming presence kept them both force-pinned there, but his eyes were locked on Hux.

The look of red-faced alarm that had initially taken Hux’s face turned instead to one of fearful pallor. Hux looked exhausted-- indeed, _sickly_ \- bags under his eyes and that fiery hair dull and unwashed. His lips weren’t pressed together in defiant sneer, instead, mouth slightly ajar to breathe easier as he stared back silently at Kylo. He remained where he was, legs slightly curled under himself as he sat against the head of the bed not without effort. Hux was clearly ashamed at being found the way he was, but couldn’t yet pull his gaze away from the alpha.

And _still_ the words wouldn’t come from Ren’s throat. 

The accusation that had been ready to spew forth from Kylo’s mouth now stuck in his throat behind the crushing hurt. Here Hux was in bed with _two_ of Kylo’s knights-- _two, of course he would need_ two, _Kylo was worth far more alphas than that_ \- and he still couldn’t make the words form on his tongue, wanting the other man blindly still.

“Master--”

“You dare speak to me?” Kylo’s voice was a harsh growl of threat from above, and Vicrul Ren found himself effectively silenced, the force prickling at his body in warning of just what Kylo was holding back.

“Supreme Leader,” Hux’s even-voice came carefully, drawing Kylo’s gaze from his knights back to him.

The angry thing inside of Kylo expanded at the use of the formal title, the alpha’s voice just as much of a growl for the omega as it was for his knights. “ _Hux_.” The name on his tongue was accusation, threat, hurt, and consequence all rolled into one. Hux visibly pushed himself back further to the wall in obvious distress. 

Kylo could feel a disturbance against his hold as both of his knights started in some easily-aborted attempt to jump up to the general’s aid. They stayed where he kept them on Hux’s bedroom floor, impotent against the power of his anger. Kylo was outraged at the idea they would turn against _him_ , try to stop whatever they thought was about to happen, and yet he was not surprised at all, as his eyes raked over and over the general. Hux was an omega worth killing for.

He forced them even harder to their knees. 

Vicrul Ren grunted at the power weighing down on them, still silenced by their master. Ap’lek Ren spoke in his stead against the power holding them. “We’ve done only as you’ve asked, Kylo Ren. And no more. To protect his life.”

Kylo took his attention from Hux back to the knights he’d incapacitated, red-hot anger burning brightly. Their lack of shame was boldly crass. “You think I would allow you to manipulate me with your stories, Ap’lek Ren?”

“You tasked us to safeguard his life against all-threats,” Ap’lek Ren quickly got out while he could, noticeably _not_ using his powers of persuasion against Kylo. “This was life-threatening, Master. We did as asked.”

_It wasn’t what it looked like_ , basically. That’s what he was saying. That the pair of them were in bed with _his_ omega, somehow protecting his life by _cuddling_ with him. Did they really think him that big a fool?

Kylo felt the anger rise in him again, and he tore his focus into his knights to get the fuel for the rage he’d use to tear them apart. He forced his way into their minds without warning. While there was a shock of initial pushback at the intrusion, the knights submitted in this way to him as well. They let their master peruse their open minds, see what lead them to this moment-- _that both alphas understood the general to be suffering from severe omega-drop necessitating alpha-scent and pack-reassurance_ \- and that nothing otherwise untoward had happened between them.

Kylo frowned. _Omega-drop?_

Ap’lek Ren opened his mind further as Kylo reached after the term for understanding, the other alpha’s thoughts and experiences coming to the surface _. Denial from their alpha. Rejection. Pining. Endocrineal shutdown. Substitutes as a last-resort. Far too long. Far too long. Coma. Death. Pain. Sadness. Long-dead younglings and mate. Pain. Pain. Longing--_

Kylo pulled his focus sharply away from Ap’lek Ren to Vicrul Ren’s mind. _Hux looking worse and worse between Vicrul’s rotations in the fleet. The way Hux watched Kylo’s shuttles take him from the Supremacy with obvious longing. The scent of despondency under false nonchalance. The way that scent grew stronger when the Supreme Leader checked-in_ with an _ensign_ , not even _Hux, to announce he’d be away even longer. A feeling in the force of such unrequited want from Hux that he’d have to be completely force-null not to have sensed it._

An accusation the knight wasn’t able to keep from his mind: _You didn’t notice?_

Kylo frowned to himself and settled his attention back on Hux. The omega watched him passively, waiting for whatever was about to happen, to happen. Hux wasn’t privy to the content of the wordless exchange going on about him, but he also wasn’t stupid. Being caught in bed between two alphas _not_ Kylo did _not_ look good for him, even if it had been necessary. He wouldn’t waste his voice on excuses, instead watching the alpha who denied him _further_ anger at attempts to counteract such effects.

Ren felt less like a Supreme Leader and more like a supreme asshole. _He’d_ done this; he’d caused this thing to happen to Hux. The pull he felt towards the other man was completely unignorable now that he realized what it was. How he’d never realized the instinct to _cuddle_ Hux was a… a _thing_ … he didn’t even know. He _always_ felt things strongly, and so this had escaped his notice and instead fed his paranoia. 

He’d ignored Hux. Sent him away for entirely stupid assumptions. He’d pushed against his instincts, and it had hurt the other man; damaged the relationship he badly wanted between them. Hux wasn’t fucking his knights behind his back. He didn’t _want_ to fuck his knights behind his back.

Even now, distressed and heart-racing, Ren could feel that Hux wanted him. The look on his face, his body-language, his scent, his presence in the force _all_ called out to the alpha to be held and kept and _needed_. Even as debilitating shame over being found this way kept him from reaching out to the alpha, Hux wanted him desperately. He was hurting _because_ of Kylo, and yet, Kylo was the _cure_. 

It was disgusting in its irony, yet it was also undeniably true.

Kylo felt like an ass for all the jealous anger he’d felt. All the times he’d stubbornly drove Hux from his bed despite wanting to do the opposite… All the times he’d made the conscious choice not to visit Hux’s own quarters, instead making the general come to _him_ … _If_ he did. 

He’d caused this. The pallor to the omega’s skin, the exhaustion, the simple, tacit shame Hux felt of betraying his alpha by having other alphas in his bed. Kylo was a damned mind-reader, but he hadn’t known _this._

Hux’s mind wasn’t exactly in a state to keep him out, but Kylo barely brushed against it for what he already knew: _that Hux thought Kylo didn’t want him_. That he thought he was useful perhaps, and maybe a good lay, but not mate material since they hadn’t bonded. Kylo kept giving him mixed signals; that he was Supreme Leader as well certainly complicated things. And even as Hux’s body rebelled against being knotted and used by an alpha who sent him away after fucking, Hux simply wanted the damned man too badly to stay away for his own good. 

And it was killing him.

It apparently was _not_ the first time Hux had taken to bed with a pair of his knights-- always a pair, Kylo understood; something less-intimate with the addition of a third person- and it also had not been Hux’s idea. Oh, they had Hux’s consent and compliance if and when he ‘allowed’ himself to enter that kind of state. But he refused to needing help until clinging to the arm of one or another, allowing them to put him to bed out of desperation for reassurance and comfort. It kept the drop at bay; allowed him to manage it. 

Further pressing into Ap’lek’s mind, Kylo found that all of his knights knew what Hux had been ailing from, and further, information and strategy had been planned amongst them for how to deal with it, respectfully, when it occurred. Two instances of fainting, along with the shift Hux had missed days prior, lead them to following through with established protocol once again; crawling into bed with him.

Omega-drop could be improved by comforting an omega in their nest, if they had one. To scent and reassure them against repeat rejection from a potential mate, essentially tricking the body into thinking it was getting what it wanted; alpha scent, touches, feelings of safety and security. To let the omega know they _weren’t_ rejected by their assumed social group in the manner as they were rejected by a mate.

Hux wanted _Kylo_ , but for whatever reason, their master had continued to send him from his quarters, and not see him fit to bond and further secure his rule. So far the knights had managed to balance the general out, but the temporary-coma Hux’s body had gone into had taken considerable _days_ to right this time. They’d remained with the general right up until Kylo had returned early. _That_ had been an unexpected complication to the protocol they’d established to follow their master’s orders, usually leaving Hux’s side at his own behest well-before Kylo would return.

Who their master fucked was none of their business, but it was understood that Hux belonged to _him_. Whatever his reasons for not heading-off omega-drop, _their_ task was always clear: protect the general from any threats within or without the fleet while Kylo was away.

The reality of the situation was somehow so much worse than if Hux _had_ secretly been fucking his knights on the side. All Kylo wanted to do was wrap Hux up in his arms and somehow make this _right_ if the omega only let him. Apologize-- _genuinely_ apologize for simply not knowing. To ask him to bond with him, officially. To be his. He could still make it right. He’d had it so so wrong.

Ap’lek’s ax finally fell to the floor with a clatter as Ren let it go, releasing his force-hold on the alphas as well. The sound made the omega twitch where he still held himself against the headboard, watching as Kylo met his eyes before looking back to his kneeling knights. Any anger he’d previously had turned to self-disgust and annoyance. 

He wanted to be alone with Hux-- to clear everything between them- and furthermore, wanted the scents of his knights gone from these quarters.

Ap’lek and Vicrul got to their feet with careful movements, already knowing they would be dismissed. It made Kylo’s voice that much more agreeable. “Out.”

“Master--”

Hux sat his place unmoving, watching as Vicrul Ren retrieved Ap’lek’s ax from the floor. Kylo and Ap’lek stared at one another, some silent exchange happening between them. Both knights inclined their heads in submission to Kylo before removing themselves from Hux’s bedroom, gathering their things which were neatly-piled in the main living-space. They shut the door behind them, and Kylo and Hux were left alone to gaze at one-another a bit uncertainly.

“...How long have you been sick?” Kylo asked bluntly, though his voice was soft and not without culpability.

Hux gave him a distrustful look. “I’m not sick, Ren,” he simply stated.

“You’ve been suffering from omega-drop, Hux,” Ren stated back.

“It’s not something you can catch,” Hux clarified. “Therefore, it is not a sickness.”

Ren snorted humorlessly before slowly moving towards the other man, broadcasting his intent as he could feel the anxiety and uncertainty coming off Hux in waves. He sat near the omega, wrinkling his nose at the strength of Vicrul’s scent left in the sheets. Hux smelled like both of _them_ , and not at all like _him_. That in itself should have told him enough about how poorly he’d fucked things up in Hux getting to this state. He was a shitty alpha, for all he liked to call Hux his omega.

Kylo’s voice was soft, beseeching. “...How long?” he asked again.

Hux’s eyes danced over his face, checking his intention and only extrapolating from contextual clues how much the other man might know. “Six months perhaps since the onset. Longer, maybe. I’m not entirely sure, but I could look into it for you.”

Not too long after he’d assumed power, then. When everything was far more uncertain, and Hux had probably needed him when he’d been too busy playing at war. Hux himself was _still_ uncertain as he reported what he knew in the same tone as disseminating facts. 

Kylo wasn’t doing a lot to inspire confidence.

“Hux, I’m sorry. I didn’t--” Kylo pursed his lips, unable to meet Hux’s eyes a moment. He took a breath and gathered himself, feeling like a foolish knothead of an alpha. “I didn’t know about omega-drop. That it-- I didn’t know I was causing this. To you. I’m just-- I’m _sorry_ , Hux. I am.” 

Hux was quiet next to him for a long moment. Anxiety gave way to confusion and then hopeful curiosity. “You didn’t know about omega-drop, or you didn’t know you were causing mine?”

“That one,” Kylo admitted, looking down at his hand on the bed with guilt, “Or, both, I guess.”

Hux seemed to accept that answer. “So you were unaware this was happening.”

A lance of hurt he knew he didn’t deserve to feel went through Kylo, and made him even more profoundly ashamed of his behavior as he looked at Hux. “...You thought I knew what was happening to you and just ignored it?”

Hux averted his eyes, unable to handle the intense look in Ren’s own. “Well how am I supposed to know you’re utterly clueless, Ren?!” He glanced sidelong at the alpha, meeting his stupid big lovely dark eyes before looking away hopelessly. He wanted him so bad, and it _hurt_. “It’s not like we’ve ever sat down and talked about… _this_ … Whatever it is between us. I honestly did not think you cared beyond a convenient fuck, no. I can’t pretend to know your mind. Not the way a mind-reader can,” he added sourly.

Kylo let himself slide off the bed to his knees, reaching a hand tentatively towards one of Hux’s own. Hux watched him, bitter expression still on his face, but he opened his hand and allowed Kylo to take it. “I care. I care beyond a convenient fuck,” he stated. “I’m just-- Fuck, I’m sorry Hux. I need you. I want you. In any way you’ll have me. I want to bond with you. I want to _rule_ with you,” Kylo spoke to the thing in Hux that hated that they’d never be equals. The look that took the general’s face was clear surprise tinged with jaded bitterness. Kylo stroked his thumb over the back of Hux’s hand. “I want only your advice, I want to tear anyone apart that stands in your way. I want to be your mate. Your _only_ alpha. Bond with me, after you’ve-- after I’ve proven myself. Please.” He squeezed Hux’s hand, feeling the omega squeeze back. “I’ll give you the title of Emperor. We’ll be equals. Just, be mine, please.” 

Hux gasped, gaping at the other man in open shock. Surely he wasn’t serious. Not the alpha who kicked him warm from his bed without so much as a kiss goodbye. _Emperor?_ Really? It wasn’t enough that Kylo was a larger man than him, but an alpha to boot, _and_ with command over the force? It put the other man at significant advantage to Hux. Kylo was the one man _no one_ would be equal to, the most powerful force user in the galaxy. And yet, he was trying to offer that to Hux; to show his sincerity, his willingness to submit to the general if it meant having him as his mate. “I’d be an emperor?”

“ _The_ Emperor,” Kylo corrected, pressing a kiss to Hux’s hand. “It’s-- I know you can’t know my mind the way I could look into yours,” he repeated Hux’s own words, “but I want a mate who isn’t afraid to tell me when I’m seriously kriffing up, Hux.”

A beat passed before Hux spoke up. “I’m not afraid of you, Ren.”

He thought that was arguable, but didn’t press it. He had more making-up to do to his sometime co-commander than not. “I have significant power over you.”

“That’s been true of a great many people in my life.”

Kylo frowned. “I would give you that same power.” Hux watched him with cautious hope, and Kylo wanted to embrace him; to drive the point home that he’d simply been a total idiot, and that Hux was his better half. He held himself back, not wanting to spook the other man more than he already was. “It’s not a- a _rank,_ but it’s the clearest title I can think of to match my own.”

Hux snorted lightly, a small smile he couldn’t keep from his face. “I believe an Emperor outranks a Supreme Leader…”

“I think so, too.”

Hux regarded him with something _open_ in his expression. He raised the hand Ren wasn’t holding to cup the alpha’s face. “You really mean all of it.”

“I do.” 

He was on his knees to an omega-- to _Hux_ at his bedside- offering him the one position with any kind of authority to rule _as an equal_ at Kylo’s side. That struck something inside of Hux as he realized Ren _did_ mean it. If he didn’t believe him before, he certainly did now. Those words were not spoken lightly. The offer to rule… He’d be untouchable. He’d be _safe._

“All because you didn’t know you were supposed to cuddle with me…”

Kylo snorted. “I am sorry. You’re the only-- I’ll prove myself, Hux. I will.”

“That you may,” he said with a sort of smile that looked tired on his pale face. “...for now will you… hold me?”

Kylo scrambled onto the bed to wrap the other man in his arms. He felt slighter without his uniform on, but it definitely felt like he’d lost some weight. An image he’d taken from Ap’lek Ren’s mind of wasting away hit him, and he held the other man even tighter, scenting his neck and petting his hair. He could still smell his knights on the omega, but it was something he could reconcile himself to at the moment. “I’m sorry, Hux. I wasn’t taught how to-- Caring for omegas isn’t something that was ever included in my training, but I’ll train in this manner, too.”

Hux snorted, the warm breath puffing past Ren’s ear as Hux pushed his smiling face into Ren’s neck. “ _Training.”_

Ren nodded, moving his arms to hug more of the other man. “I don’t want to do something like this to you again.” It was a horrible, stupid mistake from his own negligence that could’ve been avoided if there was more trust between them. And if he bothered to understand more about Hux’s own endotype further than enjoying the general’s heat.

“We’ve-- It’s not always been easy between us,” Hux spoke, and Ren pulled back to look at him, but still kept his hold tight, “but I shall strive to inform you of any _care_ you may be lacking in giving me.”

The slow smile that spread over Ren’s face was echoed in Hux’s own, and the general returned the kiss the alpha tentatively pressed to his lips. Ren pressed another to his jaw and then his cheek before fully hugging him again and burying his face in Hux’s neck. He could still scent old despair from his neglect on the omega’s skin. He licked a stripe up Hux’s neck to remove the smell; to cover it. A pleased little sound left Hux’s lips at the movement. He’d do it to Hux’s whole body if the man let him, but it was probably more efficient to hop into the ‘fresher. “I’ll make this better,” Kylo promised. “We’ll start over. We’ll fix this. I’m sorry, Hux.”

“You must be,” Hux lightly teased, a hand in the alpha’s long hair, enjoying the feel of it through his fingers as he nuzzled Kylo back. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard those words cross your lips in such quantity in all the years we’ve known each other.”

“I’ve been a fool, and I would learn from my mistakes.” 

“That’s probably the best thing you could have said.”

Kylo smirked. “That I’m foolish?”

“That you would learn from your mistakes, Ren,” Hux spoke candidly, though not without fondness. “It makes me believe there’s a good alpha in you, yet.”

“...not just some knothead who doesn’t take care of his omega?” 

Hux smirked at that disparaging epithet, but didn’t contest it. “I’m not yours _yet.”_

“Not officially,” Ren said with a knowing smile. Hux needed him as badly as he needed Hux. To think he didn’t already belong to him, and vice versa, was willful at best. “You will be. After I’ve proven myself.”

Hux made a soft sound at the kiss Ren placed on his nose. “Are you really going to make me Emperor? Truly?”

“Yes,” he promised. “Tomorrow. Today. Whenever suits you.”

Hux raised a brow in disbelief at his claim. “Really? Without offering you my neck first?”

Kylo touched their foreheads together, a hand gently cupping Hux’s throat in caress. “Yes. Before that.” A frown like he was afraid to believe it took Hux’s face, and Kylo touched their noses together before pulling back. “I meant every word I said, Hux.”

Hux’s gaze drifted from his face to somewhere on Kylo’s chest between them. “Well then,” he began, the contentment in his voice hard to ignore, “you can begin to make it up to me by having a shower with me.”

Kylo raised a brow. “Oh?”

Hux dragged his hands up the other man’s chest to rest his palms at the base of Kylo’s throat. His thumbs stroked along the alpha’s jawline, and an indulgent smile took his face. “Not for the reasons you think, but I could be convinced,” he lightly teased before meeting his gaze head-on. “I don’t like smelling like other alphas if it's not necessary.” 

Kylo kissed him again, heart beating fast at the statement and subsequent implication; that he wanted to smell like _Kylo_ , and no one else. “They… helped it, then. The drop.”

“Their scents helped. It was a necessary survival-tactic, Ren.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“Maybe,” Hux agreed, though it was still fresh enough to cause him concern. Maybe after the sheets were changed and he showered away the scent to replace it with Kylo’s own, he’d feel better. More secure. “They never touched me inappropriately. I wouldn’t have allowed it,” he added, though Ren’s knights had given their master the distinct impression that it wasn’t for a lack of interest. Their loyalty to the alpha was simply more powerful than other urges. 

“And me?”

Hux smiled. “I’ve already allowed you a great many things. What’s a few more?”

Hux let Kylo bowl him over into the pillows, ignoring the pervasive scents of his knights for now in favor of pressing Hux into the mattress. He kissed him, held him, and eventually pulled him up and towards the refresher. 

First thing they’d do was get Hux clean, and then they’d incinerate his bedsheets and anything else that smelled of his knights. From there, they would cuddle, and talk, and moreover, plan for installing Hux as the Emperor, and getting their relationship back on track. 

Hux had more than a few thoughts about his own coronation, and even more on instructing Ren the best ways to hold him. It was a lesson Ren was eager to learn, and as Hux pressed against him, practically purring into his hold, he was pleased to discover that Ren was a very quick study indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Still experimenting with using Kylo vs. Ren as narrative voice (and also sometimes for clarity with the other Rens xD). Hope it worked! idk what I'm doing but I'm having fun. So glad I go here now LOLOL much much much more ficcery in our future haha! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed! :D 
> 
> [go-hux-yourself.tumblr.com](http://go-hux-yourself.tumblr.com/) | [my fic archive masterlist](https://go-hux-yourself.tumblr.com/post/187723542337/poisonjack-ao3-fic-archive%22)
> 
> Please leave kudos and a comment if you enjoyed! ao3 FAQ: [Can I post comments anonymously, or if I don't have an Archive account? ](https://archiveofourown.org/faq/comments-and-kudos?language_id=en#anoncomment)


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